• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 30, 2009

Panelists during the discussion on "Can The BT Industry Survive Opt-In?" led by Wendy Davis, senior writer, MediaPost, got a little heated when the topic of "opting in" came up during the discussion.

Opt-in could be bad for privacy and privacy advocates. It could move the online world to create an opt-in wall that requires consumers to opt-in if they want to read content on a site. There is a clear value exchange and if consumers don't understand the value they will not opt in. Consumers need more visibility into the trade off.

What does it mean to opt in? What are you opting out of? You're opting out of being advertised to, rather than being tracked. You're still being tracked, but not getting the benefits of targeted ads.